Volume 3: The Crypt Chapter 8: Life and Death
I never expected that while completing the Forest Tomb series of tasks, there would be someone who was more embarrassed than me, and there were two of them together.
In fact, Changgong Sheri and Changsanjiao arrived at Fort Valen at about the same time as I did. Like me, they completed almost all the tasks they could complete, and finally decided to go to the forest mausoleum together.
The power of two people is indeed stronger than that of one person. They successfully broke through the outer perimeter and entered the interior of the mausoleum. However, their adventure ended here. As soon as they entered the mausoleum gate, they were attacked by a group of vampires and their souls left their bodies in an instant. The two souls were unwilling to give up, so they traveled a long distance to find their own bodies and resurrected again. But before they had completely digested the first breath of life, the fate of death fell on them again.
At this point, I have to pay tribute to the tenacity of these two friends. They have experienced this kind of life-and-death experience not once, not twice, but five times, which fully shows that they are more determined and courageous than me in facing the endless sufferings in the world. I even suspect that they have found some kind of true meaning of life from the warm tide of resurrection and the shadow of death before their eyes, and chose this unusual way to experience the joy of walking on the edge of life and death.
Among these five deaths, the most noteworthy one is the last one. This time, the half-orc wanderer Chang Sanjiao learned a little experience and used the skill of "stealth" at the moment of resurrection, and disappeared among a group of vampires. He was about to successfully escape, but he didn't expect that at this moment, the dwarf priest Longbow Shooting Sun inexplicably cast a life-restoring "Supreme God's Call" spell on him. The brilliance caused by the spell immediately exposed his whereabouts on the spot. Amid the unscrupulous biting and gnawing of a group of vampires, Chang Sanjiao immediately used his whole body and mind to feel the true "Supreme God's Call" most truly.
Of course, summoned together with him was his "closest" comrade-in-arms Changgong Sheri - they were really close enough that they could be said to be "sharing life and death together".
"When I was surrounded by a halo and my life was rising, I even wanted to die!" At this point, Chang Sanjiao glared at Chang Gong She Ri fiercely. I understand his rage, but what he said is not entirely correct - even if he didn't want to do anything, he would have died at that time.
"I wanted to heal myself, but... I chose the wrong target." This is how the dwarf priest explained this regrettable mistake.
After repeated resurrection, death, resurrection, and death, their equipment was completely damaged, and it was meaningless to continue resurrecting like this. In the end, they wisely chose to resurrect at the "resurrection point" in the city (I don't know where it is, but it is said that it can only be seen after the death and transformation into a ghost, and there is a very lovely death girl there. I heard that many people would commit suicide when they have nothing to do, just to visit the beautiful death girl) - this is why I saw them appearing in the city in beggar clothes.
"Then why don't you go and repair your equipment?" I asked in confusion. "Of course, if you think this outfit is in line with the popular decadent clothing style, that's another matter."
"Well..." Hearing my question, Longbow Shooter finally straightened the joystick confidently and glared at the Orc Wanderer fiercely, "...you have to ask him!"
"...Hey, Jeff, is this sword still useful? How's its lethality? I also saw a long sword in the weapon shop here. It has good properties and is quite suitable for you. Have you ever thought about changing it?" Chang Sanjiao seemed to be suddenly interested in my weapon, hooked my shoulder and walked to the other side of the road.
Seeing his enthusiasm, I was somewhat touched and said, "No need to change it, I think this sword is good enough."
"Hey, don't change the subject. Jeff wants to know why we don't go to repair the equipment!" Changgong Sheri grabbed Changsanjiao and yelled angrily.
"Well...that...it's just a small problem, a small problem..." Chang Sanjiao subconsciously touched his fat belly and shook his head embarrassedly.
It turned out that before going to the forest mausoleum, Chang Sanjiao had just learned a new skill from the Wanderer trainer - "Theft". Using this skill, he has the opportunity to steal items from others - the higher the level of the skill, the greater the chance of stealing things, and the more valuable the stolen items are.
After learning this skill, Chang Sanjiao excitedly practiced stealing with Longbow Sheri. Every time he stole something, the Orc Wanderer would return it to the Dwarf Priest and continue practicing. Finally, one time, Chang Sanjiao successfully stole Longbow Sheri's purse...
At this moment, the guards patrolling in the city suddenly rushed forward, claiming that Chang Sanjiao had stolen in the fortress and violated the law. They rushed forward and beat him up, and then confiscated all the money on him as a "fine".
Of course, this "fine" also includes the dwarf priest's longbow shooting sun purse.
In other words, the two people standing in front of me were two penniless lumpen proletarians. Apart from their courage to face death and their ragged clothes full of holes, they had absolutely nothing.
On the wall across the road, painted in white, there is a sentence that is truly a :
"Don't try, or you'll be caught! -- Announcement from the Valen Fortress Security Defense Team."
"No one came to help?" I asked, "What about Xian Ge Ya Yi and Fei Yin? Can't you ask them to send some money for emergency?"
"They both took another mission and went to the Gem Flower Plains together. Do you think Xian Ge Ya Yi would have any money with him when he was with Fei Yin?" Chang Sanjiao rolled his eyes at me. "Besides, if we rely on his ability to kill monsters, the money he earns may not be enough to buy a bow and arrows."
"And if Feiyin knew that we lost the money..." Changgong Sheri shrank his neck in fear, "...I would rather run naked like this."
After careful consideration, I feel that their concerns are very reasonable.
"Okay, I'll pay to help you repair your equipment, and then we'll go to the Forest Mausoleum together. I just happened to be unable to complete my mission here."
After hearing what I said, the two rough guys who were fighting each other just now immediately clapped their hands happily and celebrated:
"Long live, I knew you wouldn't abandon us. You are truly the compassionate Guanyin sister with a thousand hands and eyes who saves people from suffering..."
Sister Guanyin? What is that? It sounds like a woman's name. Does she look like me?
I regretted my decision right after I finished repairing their equipment: As soon as I walked out of the blacksmith shop, an extremely ugly half-orc female warrior with a pigtail, two thick fangs as long as two fingers, scars and acne all over her face, and a pair of nostrils that almost grew upwards just walked past us. As she walked, she rudely spat a mouthful of green phlegm on the ground. On her head was a green name:
"I am Sister Guanyin"!
Damn, how does this ugly guy look like me?
If I had known earlier, I should have let these two ungrateful bastards beg for food all the way to Liezong City on the northern prairie!
…
Soon, the three of us once again set out on an adventurous journey to the mausoleum in the forest. The previous failures gave us enough experience to turn this originally difficult and dangerous journey into a pleasant tour. Those brutal beasts had caused me a lot of trouble, but now they became much more obedient under the joint attack of the three of us.
Chang Sanjiao and Chang Gong Sheri, two poor and destitute men, were so desperate that they wanted to scrape away all the dirt in the forest and exchange it for money when they returned to the store. But after walking only one-third of the way, they began to complain that their magic bags were not big enough and began to throw things out in large quantities. Looking at their sad faces, it seemed that they were not throwing things out of their backpacks, but were cutting flesh out of their hearts.
When we arrived outside the mausoleum in the forest, we found that we were not the only ones who wanted to enter the mausoleum.
A group of adventurers were standing outside the gate of the mausoleum in the forest, looking expectantly at the road they were coming from. There were many corpses of blood clan descendants lying on the ground, I think this should be the glorious achievement of this group of people.
Our presence seemed to have caused a commotion among these people. They began to greet us loudly and enthusiastically from a distance, gesturing and inviting us to come over as soon as possible. One of them, named "A Lifetime of Persistence in Dreams", even ran towards us impatiently.
"Hey, friends, are you planning to enter the mausoleum in the forest too?" As soon as he ran in front of us, Lifelong Persistence in Dreams asked us hurriedly, with an eager expression on his face. He was a 32nd level human warrior, holding a "maul of heavy blows" in his right hand and a shield called "iron protection" in his left hand. The other equipment on his body also had good attribute bonuses, and he looked quite majestic. As a warrior, in comparison, the outfit I was wearing could only be described as "shabby".
"Yeah." I stopped and answered affirmatively, then held the "Sabertooth Ripper" in my hand in front of me - this is probably the only equipment I can show off, and I hope this guy can notice my sword.
"Well...are there any vacancies in your team? Are there any other companions coming?" What made me feel a little regretful was that he didn't seem to be interested in my sword at all.
"No, there are only three of us." Changjiang Delta replied.
"That's good, that's good!" Hearing this, the man who had been obsessed with his dreams all his life seemed to be relieved. He walked beside us and said, "Can you do me a favor and let my two friends join your team? This is a five-person instance, and we have two too many people, so we can't go in together."
For me, "copy" is a completely new concept. It seems to refer to a specific area that is restricted by some kind of magic and only allows a certain number of adventurers to enter each time.
Just as "一生执著于梦" said, the Mausoleum in the Forest is a five-person dungeon. When there are more than five people in an adventure team, they cannot enter the mausoleum. It seems that this adventure team encountered such a problem. Originally, this problem was not difficult to solve. As long as two people were removed from the team, the rest of the people could enter the dungeon smoothly. But it seems that these people do not intend to abandon their adventure partners. "一生执著于梦" told us that they have been waiting here for a long time, hoping to find an adventure team with insufficient numbers so that all companions can complete the task smoothly.
We certainly had no reason to reject these two extra forces that came out of nowhere, and subsequent battles also showed that it was difficult to say who helped whom in this matter.
The man who had been obsessed with dreams all his life seemed to be the organizer of this adventure. After obtaining our consent, he excitedly ran back to his companions and quickly arranged two candidates to join us: one of them was named Black Aurora, an elven magician who specialized in fire spells; the other was named Krado, a relatively rare tauren shaman in the Kingdom of Dranmaya.
As a spellcaster, the shaman obtains magical power in a completely different way from the magician, priest and warlock. The power of the magician comes from the feeling and control of all the magical elements in this world. They are the most direct and purest magic manipulators, relying entirely on their own abilities to use magic; priests and warlocks are somewhat similar, both of them establish spiritual connections with powerful lives hidden in countless alien worlds and time, and to a certain extent "borrow" their power to cast extraordinary spells. The difference is that priests rely on the many gods we believe in, while the source of power for warlocks is more like what we usually call "devils".
The shamans have a completely different way of gaining power. They believe that true power does not come from the outside world, but from the soul of life. They may be a group of people who can truly understand the "power of the soul" because they can gain power by worshiping the souls of their ancestors. They use various totem poles to symbolize the soul power of different lives, and rely on this strange power to fight.
Unlike their fellow spellcasters who are obsessed with prayer and meditation and are mostly frail, shamans are mostly strong and powerful. Even without relying on those strange totem rituals, their strong fighting power cannot be underestimated. Because of the special beliefs involved, the profession of shaman is mostly concentrated among the tauren and orcs who live in tribes. It is said that there are also some shamans in some wild human tribes in the northern wasteland, but few people have seen them.
The two new partners seemed to be quiet and introverted. When we greeted them, they just smiled and nodded at us.
"Thank you for taking care of my two friends. If you need any help in the future, just come to me. I will definitely help if I can!" Seeing the Tauren Shaman and the Magician forming a team with us, he did not forget to express his gratitude to us despite his lifelong persistence in his dream. His hearty and enthusiastic energy made people feel very kind.
"I wish you have a good time!" He waved at us, turned around, pushed open the door of the mausoleum in the woods, and disappeared into the dark tomb in a flash.
